Washington ? The White House on Thursday made fun of former President Clinton and his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, for criticizing President Bush’s decision to erase the prison sentence of former aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby.

“I don’t know what Arkansan is for chutzpah, but this is a gigantic case of it,” presidential spokesman Tony Snow said.

In his commutation decision, Bush left a $250,000 fine. Libby paid the fine Thursday.

Libby’s supporters have raised more than $5 million to cover legal fees and continued to raise money, but Libby paid the fine himself, according to someone close to the fund who spoke on condition of anonymity because details of the account are private.

Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has scheduled hearings Wednesday on Bush’s commutation of Libby’s sentence.

“Well, fine, knock himself out,” Snow said of Conyers. “I mean, perfectly happy. And while he’s at it, why doesn’t he look at January 20th, 2001?”

In the closing hours of his presidency, Clinton pardoned 140 people, including fugitive financier Marc Rich.

President Clinton tried to draw a distinction between the pardons he granted and Bush’s decision to commute Libby’s sentence in the CIA leak case.

“I think there are guidelines for what happens when somebody is convicted,” Clinton told a radio interviewer Tuesday. “You’ve got to understand, this is consistent with their philosophy; they believe that they should be able to do what they want to do, and that the law is a minor obstacle.”

Hillary Clinton, seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, said the Libby decision “was clearly an effort to protect the White House. … There isn’t any doubt now, what we know is that Libby was carrying out the implicit or explicit wishes of the vice president, or maybe the president as well, in the further effort to stifle dissent.”